chockvsclackWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“chock” and “clack” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,430
“chock” frequency rank
#46,381
“clack” frequency rank
80811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chock clack
Definition Any object used as a wedge or filler, especially when placed behind a wheel to prevent it from rolling. An abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a sound midway between a click and a clunk.

Where the eye mixes chock and clack

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chock and clack follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
chock
5 ch
clack

Look-alike desk: chock vs clack

A purely visual mix-up. chock (/tʃɒk/) and clack (/klæk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chock is recorded at frequency rank #34,430, classified as anoun, pronounced /tʃɒk/. clack is at rank #46,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klæk/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 80811, this pair ranks #19,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chock vs clack

Shared letters: ck. Private to "chock": ho. Private to "clack": al.

"chock" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "clack" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chock ← cchock · chcok · chhock · chocck · chockk · chokc · cohck · hcock
  • clack ← calck · cclack · clacck · clackk · clakc · clcak · cllack · lcack

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chock" for "clack" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/tʃɒk/ versus /klæk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chock" vs "clack" - which ranks higher?
"chock" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,430 in our English list, against #46,381 for "clack". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clack" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chock" and "clack" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clack vs clink". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #19,011 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list